Quote:
Originally Posted by Thankful Jane
Yesterday I heard a brother with his wife as witness to the truth of what he said, tell about the trip to Taiwan in 1968 by 142 (I think) brothers and sisters from the U.S. He confessed that about half way through that trip he realized they were all being used by W. Lee to demonstrate to the folks in Taiwan that the Lord was blessing him in the U.S. He wasn't sure what to think of that, but has a clear memory of realizing it. He also remembers seeing some "opposers" picketing outside the meeting halls with signs and shouting some things.
Also, he told about an experience on that trip that where silence speaks volumes. He said they were in some kind of public transportation station. WL told Bill Mallon how to line every one up. Bill did so, but had misunderstood and did it wrong. When WL saw what Bill had done, he went ballistic and yelled at Bill for a few minutes for not doing exactly what he had told him, humiliating hiim in front of everyone. Guess what everyone said when that happened?
Nothing.
Anyone posting on this forum remember that?
That was clearly a time to speak. How many more things happened that were answered with silence? Are the silent guilty? Or, were they just innocently loving the Lord? When decades later good, innocent people silently bowed to the decrees of W. Lee concerning John I, Bill M, etc. decrees which were clearly against the body of Christ and the teachings of the Bible about how to treat brothers, were the silent ones just innocently there loving the Lord when they agreed to break fellowship with those brothers? Were they bowing to the demands of God or of Lee? If not God, then wasn't that idolatry?
Thankful Jane
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How convenient it was for Witness Lee to take the young Americans on a so-called “tour” of the “church life” in Taiwan, when none of them could speak or read Chinese to be able to get a clear picture of the situation in Taiwan, and in turn Witness Lee could “show off” his success in the U.S. My impression as a member of the LC was that these people who actually visited Taiwan had “truly seen the light.” They had seen the real fruit of teachings regarding the LC, Witness Lee’s teachings specifically, and had the assurance that this was truly the way to go to touch reality and to “build the church.” Of course, they had seen only what Witness Lee wanted them to see and then were used to convince others of the veracity of his teachings and the “local church movement.”
I remember from the first time I visited an LC meeting in Houston how adamant each member was regarding not only the reality of the scriptures (which greatly appealed to me) but on the other hand also their vehemence regarding THE Local Church. It is like you could not have the one without the other. This was a real “hook” for capturing others for this movement: genuine love of the Lord and the scriptures and good intentions to give ourselves for the building of the church, the REAL bride of Christ. The amazing thing is all along Witness Lee kept preaching “only Christ.” We were told never to add anything when in reality the movement was “Christ and THE church.”
I agree with Thankful Jane that strict adherence to directives of Witness Lee surely was/is idolatry as it interferes with one’s seeking the Lord Himself.
bookworm